CNN reports that the Chinese media has stated Hu “will stress how a constructive, comprehensive partnership between the powers could be mutually beneficial and help ensure stability in Asia and worldwide, despite differences between Beijing and Washington.”

The Asian American Journalists Association will host its 21st Annual AAJA National Convention at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles from August 4 to 7. We will have the pleasure of speaking on two panels on Thursday, August 5 as part of the “Diversifying Your Coverage” series with some of our favorite and most esteemed colleagues. Please join us if you can!

“Diversity in the New Media”11:15AM TO 12:15PM, Los Feliz, 3rd Floor
PRESENTERS: Gil Asakawa (Medianews Group Interactive), Phil Yu (Angry Asian Man), Jocelyn Wang (8Asians), Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen (DISGRASIAN)The Internet offers a mixed bag of voices, but the success of ethnic outlets is still developing. Experts and experimenters alike gather to talk tips, hurdles and highlights of how to make diversity in new media work for you and your readers.

“A Hyphenated World”2:30PM TO 3:30PM, Los Feliz, 3rd Floor
PRESENTERS: Jeff Yang (SF Chronicle), Bernice Yeung (Hyphen Magazine), Cynthia Wang (People Magazine), Oliver Wang (CSULB), Kai Ma (KoreAm), Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen (DISGRASIAN)Journalists, every day, are challenged to report on a diverse and multicultural world. This panel discussion shines a light on some of the stereotypes most prevalent in media today — with a focus on Asian-Americans in Hollywood – and offers insight into covering the subtleties of a world rich in nuances and culture.

Adam Yamaguchi, host of Current TV’s Vanguard, is too freakin’ good-lookin’ to be a journalist. And hey, we love ourselves a news man, but they’re usually subtly sexy–like a simmering spice, a bit of merquén in a sauce that you can’t quite pick up on the first bite. But Yamaguchi (Hello: velvet voice, serious brow, intense eyes, protruding pecs, angled jaw) is knock-you-over-the-head habanero hot. Like, stupid hot. And by stupid hot, we mean you’re kinda stupid if you don’t think he’s hot.

Surely she must be a stiff, right? Wrong. She’s not only likeable, but dang adorable when she opens her mouth. (See her most recent interview, where she talks about new book Half the Sky with Stephen Colbert, here).

So what’s wrong with WuDunn? Well, nothing. Except that in addition to all of these qualities, she also happens to possess one of ravishing beauty, making her just perfect. So there you go.

As bloggers, we know we’re part of a huge paradigm shift that has forced the world to witness the rapid decline of our beloved newspapers, and in lockstep, a bittersweet goodbye to a beautiful old school of gritty, focused, research-and-field based journalism.

Is it his tone of honesty that will be missed most? His dedication to the country? Perhaps his immeasurable influence (defined, one could argue, by the devastating impact his February 27, 1968 statement had on the on the nation’s support of the Vietnam War, see video link below):

We don’t really have an answer to those questions. We can only bid Cronkite an eternal goodnight with due respect and much sadness. He will be missed.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were captured in March on the Chinese border of North Korea while shooting news footage for Current TV and have been held in North Korean detention since, will stand trial in Pyongyang on June 4 for “illegal entry” and “hostile acts.”

Lee’s husband, Michael Saldate, told reporters this week that their 4-year-old daughter “still thinks mommy is at work.” And Laura’s sister, Lisa, explained that she and her family are “terrified.”

An Iranian-American journalist who was sentenced to eight years in jail on charges of spying for Washington was released Monday after an appeals court reduced the sentence, her lawyer said. The journalist, Roxana Saberi, will be able to leave the country, he said.

The lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, who defended Ms. Saberi in a hearing on Sunday, said the court rejected the original jail term and issued a two-year suspended prison term in its place.

If the news alone isn’t enough to melt your heart, this photo of her relieved parents, Reza and Akiko Saberi, surely will:

When we first learned that former beauty queen-turned-journalist Roxana Saberi, an American of Iranian and Japanese descent, had been imprisoned in Iran–for either allegedly buying a bottle of wine or working in the country without a press permit–we thought the whole thing would blow over in a jiffy. We figured Iran would come to its senses and realize that keeping a hot lady in a horrible prison on sketchy charges makes Iran look bad, and Iran already has a bit of a PR problem as it is.

But nooooo. Iran had to go and charge Roxana with espionage last week, after her parents Reza and Akiko Saberi flew to Tehran to see her and lobby for her release. Which is bad news. But how bad is it?

iran is pretty sensitive to too much international embarrassment and this is a case that has gotten an abnormal amount of attention. with her father in tehran and the red cross allowing access, i can’t imagine that this will actually go to court. then again, you never know. the thing with iran is that they do these kinds of things randomly to prove a point: don’t fuck with us. it seems like at least once a year they jail a researcher or journalist for a couple of months, and then let them go. Let’s hope that happens here.

Laura Ling (younger sister of Lisa Ling) and Euna Lee–two American journalists for Current TV–have reportedly been abducted and detained by North Korean soldiers, for ignoring warnings to stop shooting footage from across the Chinese border.

South Korean media first reported the detentions early Thursday, with YTN television saying two Americans were arrested near the Tumen River dividing North Korea and China. The Yonhap news agency, citing diplomatic sources, said North Korean soldiers took them into custody after they ignored orders to stop filming.

Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate release of the journalists and their guide and urged Chinese authorities to intercede on their behalf “as they were probably on Chinese soil when they were arrested.“

We have the two women in our thoughts right now, and hope for their quick and safe return–not just for their safety, but for the safety of someone else–because if Laura’s big sis is anything like mine, N. Korea’s Kim Jong Il may quickly find himself with his head mauled, appendages broken, and dick in a vice.

Freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, 31, has been imprisoned for over a month in Iran. The former Miss North Dakota, who is of Iranian and Japanese descent and holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Iran, was detained at the beginning of February, which is the last time anyone has heard from her. At that time, she phoned her father, Reza Saberi, to tell him that she had been arrested for buying a bottle of wine, which is illegal in Iran. She is currently being held in the Evin jail in northern Tehran, and the Iranian government refuses to disclose what she’s been charged with, saying only that Saberi had been working without a press permit for the last two years.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for Saberi’s release. This was a day after she told reporters following a trip to the Middle East that Iran poses a threat to Europe and Russia and it “intends to interfere in the internal affairs of [other countries in the Middle East] and try to continue their efforts to fund terrorism.”

Damn, Iran, do you really want to fuck with HRC (the “H” is for Hardass)? I sure wouldn’t.